October Studio Organizing Challenge

Posted on October 15, 2020 by prairiemoonquilts in Studio Organizing Challenge

Full into fall, halfway through October already! We’ve had gorgeous weather, and I’m hoping for it to continue a lot longer. It’s supposed to get cold tonight, but still warm back up again, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a really, really long fall. I’d really like to not have to turn my furnace on until December!

Organizing in the studio has kinda gone by the wayside the last couple months. Whenever I get a few spare moments, I’m working on my living room downstairs, stripping wallpaper off of paneling. It’s slow going, but if I just keep chipping away at it, and try not to think about how far I have to go, I’ll eventually get there. Plus, there are only 3 walls to do, and 2 walls have doors and 1 wall has windows, so I’m telling myself it’s not as bad as it seems. Please don’t tell me otherwise! I’m also scraping the ceiling as I go.

I’ve been going through boxes that we had still never unpacked since moving. I found these sweet little ceramic bowls my girls made me when they were little — back in 1994 — in Vacation Bible School!

And I’m also gleefully getting rid of stuff. It feels good. The house is getting cleaner and emptier, and it gives me more space to work on my remodeling projects. Baby steps. They’ll eventually add up.

I’ve also been doctoring several baby kittens, but especially this little fella. I’m in love with this one — his name is LWT, which stands for Little White Thing! You can see more of him on my Instagram page, if you follow me over there.

So I’m still chipping away in very small bits at all the previous challenges. I’m working my way through a few piles. I decided that instead of worrying about all the piles, I’d just pick one and instead of moving it all to other places, I’d try and actually work my way through it so that it’s gone for good. That is a much slower process than just moving it all to other places, but I feel in the long run, it will be much better to have done it this way!

And still, it’s time for a new organizing challenge already. So what do I want to work on this month? I’ve decided to:

Work on organizing the fabric stash

It’s one of my goals for this year to finally get my stash under control, and make my system work a little better for me. I have NO intentions of doing all of it in the next month, but I think I will choose one or two bins to concentrate on, and if I can do one a week or so, then I might have a shootin’ chance of meeting the goal by the end of the year. We shall see.

Do you need help with getting your stash under control?

If so, right now, over on Feel Good Fibers, there is a Declutter to Destash challenge going on. It started October 5th, but it is definitely not too late to get in on this. I can’t do it wholeheartedly like I really want to, but I am definitely putting to good use some of the tips offered up.

Even when there’s no challenge going on over there, their blog is so full of good and useful information. It’s one of my favorite resources. And . . . if you have fabric you’d like to destash, you can sell it right from their site! Turn that stuff into cash, if you no longer want it!

So go check it out, sign up for the newsletter, and do what you can. Any little bit you do will help you, even if you don’t jump in with both feet right from the start.

Have fun this month playing in your fabric stash!

10 responses to “October Studio Organizing Challenge”

  1. Darlene says:

    Hi Shelly, LWT is adorable!!! I can see your logic in tackling 1 pile to the bitter end it is so true about the pile shuffle.
    Hoping you have a great day thank you for the challenge.

  2. Fran C. says:

    Love those ceramic bowls your daughters made! As for stripping the wallpaper, I don’t envy you. That is one job I would not want. LWT is adorable! Thanks for showing us the picture. Hoping you can keep the furnace off much longer.

  3. Candice says:

    Thanks for the referral, I signed up for the newsletter!

  4. Wendy says:

    Our furnace is on; it snowed yesterday. Just a few fat flakes, but still. So not ready for winter. Our daughter is moving back home temporarily until she finds housing. We will have 4 adults in one tiny home. So decluttering will be happening, I think!

  5. Candice says:

    THANKS FOR THE REFERRAL – I SIGNED UP FOR THE FEEL GOOD FIBERS NEWSLETTER.

  6. Marlene Clausen says:

    No matter what season, my preference is HVAC off and windows open. We’ve had a wonderful fall so far. Mostly, low- to mid-60’s at night and mid- to high-70’s during the day and lots of sun. I could live like that year round and be very, very happy! Failing that, just plop my ass in the sand and dunk my toes in the water on any Caribbean beach.

  7. Rose Marie Smith says:

    I have been trying to declutter. It is a long slow road, into a drawer that I had been saving for long time. Guess what it was? Prairie Moon Quilts Cowgirl Club patterns and fabrics from 2009. And it is still beautiful and inspiring. I have 4 blocks made and who knows how many more will emerge. Some one will just love this when I get it made. P.S. I typed this from my new laptop with Windows 10. Now that is a real challenge.

  8. Working on studio reorganizing and scraping walls and ceiling? You are inspiring!
    LWT is a sweetheart and I would definitely fall in Love with this sweetie.
    I have been sorting my stash and measuring each piece and labelling them so that I know exactly how much fabric there is. It does make it easier when pulling fabric for a project. I don’t expect to get it all done this month but want it done before year end.

  9. Peggy says:

    Your post was so timely for me. After 20 years, I have sold my home and am retiring back to the Southwest. Despite selling my place in 2 days and given 6 weeks to find a new one, it was a nervewracking experience. Closed here Friday and won’t close there until the 26th. Finding an affordable and reliable moving company was especially hard. Nothing seemed to go as planned, so my wonderful daughters stepped up to help. Did have to leave much behind which breaks my heart, but did pitch quite a bit, too. It’s amazing how much you can part with given a deadline. I did not, however leave any fabric or sewing items behind. I plan to get back to quilting as soon as I have settled. In the meantime, KOA campground here I come for a week as being between home ownerships I am , I guess, homeless.

  10. Debbi says:

    If you don’t have a wallpaper steamer to remove your wallpaper, get one! Very worthwhile as I learned when removing the wallpaper from my kitchen. I was trying to use a steam cleaner thing and it just didn’t work the same as than official wallpaper steamer.

    I too am working on home projects and anytime in the sewing room is being focused on sewing Christmas fabric up.

Leave a Reply to Wendy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *